- Discussion board

WSJ did a little research on that topic a few weeks ago (if you are a subscriber, dig out that April 23, 2002 issue). In short, the deal is:

a) Visa/MC started charging 1% on all foreign transactions a while ago.

b) More recently, some banks (who actually ISSUE those Visa/MC cards) decided to join in and tack their OWN fee on TOP of Visa/MC's.

c) American Express, which is a completely different system AND a separate issuer, started charging 2% fee.


What it boils down to is the following:

1) There are issuers that DON'T charge anything on top of 1% charged by Visa/MC. Those are, for example, Capital One, MBNA, some Credit Unions. Try to get those card if you're going to Europe.

2) There is American Express that charges 2%. That's a reasonable choice as well.

3) There are banks that charge 2% on top of Visa/MC's 1%, so the total is 3%. They are Citibank, First USA, Chase Manhattan. Try to avoid using those cards in Europe, because 3% is a bit excessive.

For your reference:

Capital One cards:>http://creditcardmenu.com/?dlink=iss_capitalone

American Express cards:>http://creditcardmenu.com/?dlink=iss_amex

P.S. This information is researched by WSJ, not me personally. Also it is current as of April 2002 and rates may change.

Actually Amex also charges 3%!!
(2% Amex Usa+ 1% Amex foreign country)

I'm going to be making some large purchases in other currencies and would like to find one of these 1% cards. Any specific suggestions? URLs would be so much the better.